Chael Sonnen joined Michael Bisping in criticizing Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza for turning down the opportunity given to him by the UFC to take the title fight against Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 on short-notice when Chris Weidman pulled out of the fight due to injury.
Sonnen spoke about the situation during his appearance on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com.
“[Souza] is great. I would never make believe that he’s not,” said Sonnen. “But the bottom line is, the word is ‘yes.’ If you want an opportunity in America, when one comes, you need to know one word and that is ‘yes.’ The difference between Michael Bisping and everybody else is one word: ‘yes.’ When the opportunity came, that’s what he said. ‘Jacare’ is hurt? Look, fine, I’m sure he is hurt after that long, drawn-out war he just had with Vitor. You think Michael Bisping isn’t hurt? Of course he’s hurt. Whether he advertising it or not, he goes in and fights men everyday. There’s no way to not be hurt. Who gives a damn if you’re hurt, man? You’re either a tough guy or you aren’t.”
Sonnen continued, “We’re not worried about who the best fighter is,” added Sonnen. “There’s no way to know. It’s too speculative. All we’re trying to find out is who is the toughest guy in the world, at this weight class, in this set of rules, on this specific day. If you come forward and you go, ‘I can’t even make the walk, I’m not even tough enough to make the walk,’ fair enough, but you’re now out of the conversation. They should take you out of the rankings.”
“You can’t hold the No. 3 spot in the world when you’re openly telling everybody, ‘man, I’m not even tough enough to walk out there and try,'” said Sonnen. “Fair enough. People get hurt, I get it. But you’re now not that guy. If you were a true tough guy, you shut your mouth and you make the freaking walk, and it’s as simple as that. The chips fall where the chips fall. But Michael Bisping, for nothing else, is a tough guy and he said yes.”
UFC 199: Rockhold vs. Bisping II is scheduled for Saturday, June 4, 2016 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Make sure to join us here at MMANews.com on 6/4 for the best UFC 199 live results coverage on the web!
